April 2 i, 1892] 



NA TURE 



585 



October 17, 1 891, when the earthquakes abated, and water 

 returned to some of the wells. The appearance of the sea, 

 as viewed from the land, at first suggested the presence 

 of some " great fish," and columns of " smoke " were seen. 

 Those who visited the spot later (Fig. 2) found black 



rn,. J. — rare oi a SKetch of the submarine eruption near Pantelleria, 

 October 1891. (After Ricco.) 



scoriaceous bombs rising to the surface, along a line 

 some I kilometre in length, extending north-east and 

 south-west, which might well indicate a submarine fissure, 

 the activity being specially great at certain points. Some 

 of the bombs discharging steam ran hissing over the 

 water with the recoil. Many were still ver>' hot inside, 

 fusing zinc (415^ C), and one was red-hot (in daylight), 

 but below 800^ C. Some pieces were thrown 20 m. in 

 the air, as I gather, not so much by their momentum on 

 reaching the surface as by the explosions occurring there. 

 After the explosions the fragments sank, the material 

 having a sp. gr. of about 2*4. The highest temperature of 

 the water obtained was but ii° C. above that of the 

 surrounding sea. Ricco now questions the trustworthiness 

 of the soundings made at the scene of eruption to a 

 depth of 350 m. without feeling bottom, and he was told 

 that fishermen had previously found but 160 m. of water 

 there. Though some saw bubbles rise to the surface, the 

 gases usually emitted in the case of subaerial eruptions 

 were not detected in the sample of water collected, which 

 Ricco suggests may be due to their having been taken 

 into solution by the water lower down. However, there 

 was a smell "as of gunpowder "at the spot ; and the dark, 

 basic, spongy matter of the bombs (previously described),' 

 "the only solid material erupted," gives out when heated 

 a sulphurous odour, a fact of which Mr. F. Chapman had 

 previously informed me. The eruption terminated on 

 October 25, and the erupted matter disappeared. 



I should add, in conclusion, that I have ascertained 

 from Dr. Errera, who has charge of the seismological 

 apparatus on the island, that the telegrams published in 

 an English daily paper, as to renewed eruptions in the 

 neighbourhood at a later date, were quite without founda- 

 tioii. G. W. Butler. 



March 22. 



GIRAFFES. 

 'X'HE Zoological Society of London, as our readers 

 J- know, have lost their last remaining Giraffe, and, 

 for the first time since 1836, no example of this, one of 

 the most wonderful of living Mammals, is to be seen in 

 the Regent's Park Gardens. Nor does it seem likely 

 that the loss can be easily restored. At the present time, 

 owing to the Mahdists having closed the Soudan to trade, 

 the Giraffe-market is very poorly supplied. Only one 

 specimen of this animal, we are told, is for sale in 



NO. I 173, 



' Nature, vol. xlv p. 251. 

 VOL. 45] 



Europe, and an exorbitant price is naturally asked for it. 

 In South Africa the Giraffe is practically extinct, being 

 only still met with in a few isolated localities nearly a 

 thousand miles from Cape Town. In East Africa there 

 are still Giraffes, and in places nearer the sea-board ; but 

 here, apparently, there are no means of catching them 

 alive, as the natives do not understand how to do it. 

 Here, however, it is that there appears to be most like 

 lihood of obtaming a fresh supply. This will be an ex- 

 pensive business, but unless some steps are soon taken 

 in the matter it seems that the younger generation of 

 England will grow up without knowing what a living 

 Giraffe is like. Their parents have been more fortunate. 

 From the list given below, it will be seen that there have 

 been 30 individuals of the Giraffe exhibited in the Zoo- 

 logical Society's Gardens since 1836, of which 17 have 

 been born there, and 13 acquired by purchase. Of these 

 30, one was presented to the Royal Zoological Society of 

 Ireland in 1844, five have been sold at prices varying 

 from ^450 to ^150, and the remainder have died in the 

 Gardens. 



List of Giraffes that have lived in the Society's Gardens. 



NOTES. 

 The ordinary general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will be held on Thursday evening, May 5, and Friday 

 evening, May 6, at 25 Great George Street, Westminster The 

 chair will be taken at half-past seven pm. on each evening, by 

 the President, Dr. William Anderson, F.R.S. The President 

 will deliver his inaugural address on Thursday evening, after 

 which the following papers will be read and discussed, as far as 

 time permits : — Research Committee on Marine- Engine Trials : 

 Report upon trial of the steamer Fi//e de Douvres, by ProL 

 Alexander U. W. Kennedy, F.R.S., Chairman (Thursday, and 

 discussion continued on Friday). On condensation in steam- 



